Former U of S Huskie Nelson Lokombo ready to roll for Riders after achilles injury
SASKATOON - - It was immediately apparent to Nelson Lokombo that something serious had happened to his achilles tendon during the Saskatchewan Roughriders shortened training camp of 2021.
“I knew right away. I heard it,” he said.
“When you accidentally kick someone in the back of the cleat, that’s what it sounded like. It was loud.”
The former University of Saskatchewan Huskies standout says his leg was in a cast, and even walking was difficult for three to four months following surgery to repair his torn achilles.
“That first month was probably the toughest month of my life,” he said. “Every time it felt like mentally I could do more, but body-wise I couldn’t.”
“It was getting over the hurdle of feeling like I could walk but I couldn’t walk yet, and then being able to walk and feeling I could run, but I can’t run yet, and then running and feeling (like) I could sprint. That’s kind of how it went."
Lokombo went through months of rehabilitation; stretching, calf raises, massage and laser work, shock therapy, and pool work to get to the point where he could play again.
“It was a relief,” Lokombo said of getting back to regular workouts.
“I was just worried that I wouldn’t be able to run as fast as I could, or be as explosive as I once was.”
Head coach Craig Dickenson says he’s looking to see growth out of Lokombo, and the team is taking things slowly getting him back up to full speed.
“We don't want to another injury because he's a key guy for us,” said Dickenson.
“He's done everything we've asked in camp, and I think he's going to have a good year.”
Despite Lokombo easing back into things, first year defensive backs coach Marcus Klund says he can already see the raw athleticism that made him the second overall pick in the 2021 CFL draft.
“That he looks the way he does at about 90, 95 per cent, man I'm excited see what he is at 100 per cent,” said Klund.
Dickenson says when a healthy Lokombo will be on the field for the Riders in 2022, either on special teams or on defence, while Klund says he could see him lining up at any position in the secondary.
“When you got a high draft pick like him, the expectation is to come in and be a guy. That's what we bring him in here to do and he's drafted to do that, so there's a lot of expectations for him to come in and be the guy," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.